Title 5Government Organization and EmployeesRelease 119-73

§5583 Payment of money due; settlement of accounts

Title 5 › Part PART III— - EMPLOYEES › Subpart Subpart D— - Pay and Allowances › Chapter CHAPTER 55— - PAY ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER VIII— - SETTLEMENT OF ACCOUNTS › § 5583

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

An agency must pay money owed when an employee dies to the person the employee named as beneficiary or, if none, to the widow or widower. The Director of the Office of Personnel Management can set rules for these payments and how accounts are settled. The District of Columbia must pay accounts for its own employees, and government-owned or partly government-owned corporations may pay accounts for their employees.

Full Legal Text

Title 5, §5583

Government Organization and Employees — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Under such regulations as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management may prescribe, the employing agency shall pay money due a deceased employee to the beneficiary designated by the employee under section 5582(b) of this title, or, if none, to the widow or widower of the employee.
(b)The Director may by regulation prescribe the method for settlement of accounts payable under subsection (a) of this section. However—
(1)accounts of employees of the government of the District of Columbia shall be paid by the District of Columbia; and
(2)accounts of employees of Government corporations or mixed ownership Government corporations may be paid by the corporations.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

DerivationU.S. CodeRevised Statutes andStatutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 61h. Aug. 3, 1950, ch. 518, § 3, 64 Stat. 396.Apr. 30, 1954, ch. 177, § 1, 68 Stat. 64. In subsection (a), the word “officer” is omitted as included in “employee”. Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–316, § 202(b)(1), substituted “Director of the Office of Personnel Management” for “Comptroller General of the United States”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–316, § 202(b)(2), substituted “The Director may by regulation prescribe the method for settlement of accounts payable under subsection (a) of this section.” for “Except as the Comptroller General may by regulation otherwise authorize or direct, accounts not payable under subsection (a) of this section are payable on settlement of the General Accounting Office.” 1979—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–70 struck out par. (2) providing that accounts of the employees of the Canal Zone Government be paid by the Canal Zone Government, and redesignated par. (3) as (2).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–70 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 3304 of Pub. L. 96–70, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 3601 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

5 U.S.C. § 5583

Title 5Government Organization and Employees

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73